We are now past the mid-point of our summer and we are already noticing that the sun is rising that little bit later. At present we are going through a long, dry period, with daily maximum temperatures in the late thirties. Such prolonged hot and dry conditions are challenging for everybody and everything. It is particularly hard for those farmers who have summer crops in the ground and who rely on rainfall to carry the crops through. Domestically, we are fine as a couple of heavy showers a while ago filled our external water tanks.

The World Gliding Championships were recently held at Benalla in Victoria, having been held at the same location thirty years ago. Those championships were my last world championships. Initially I wasn’t going to go down to visit these championships but Maren felt that I should go, so I changed my mind and went. I was very glad that I did go as I got to catch up with so many people that I hadn’t seen for some time. It was also very interesting to see the three new gliders that were flying there. Overall, the weather conditions were not that great, with a lot of fairly weak blue conditions. The British Team did particularly well, gaining a first and third place in the Open Class, as well as the overall top team trophy.

Maren continues being challenged physically and progress is slow. We will be going to Brisbane next week to have a very short break and take in a musical!